Until recently, the marquise Du Chatelet (1706-1749) was more remembered as the companion of Voltaire than as an intellectual in her own right. While much has been written about his extraordinary output during the years he spent in her company, her own work has often been overshadowed. This volume brings renewed attention to Du Chatelet's intellectual achievements, including her free translation of selections from Bernard Mandeville's Fable of the bees; her dissertation on the nature and propagation of fire for the 1738 prize competition of the Academie des sciences; the 1740 Institutions de physique and ensuing exchange with the perpetual secretary of the Academie, Dortous de Mairan; her two-volume exegesis of the Bible; the translation of and commentary on Isaac Newton's Principia; and her semi-autobiographical Discours sur le bonheur. It is a measure of the breadth of her interests that the contributions to this volume come from experts in a wide range of disciplines: comparative literature, art history, the history of mathematics and science, philosophy, the history of publishing and translation studies. Du Chatelet's partnership with Voltaire is reflected in a number of the essays; they borrowed from each other's writings, from the discussions they had together, and from their shared readings. Essays examine representations of her by her contemporaries and posterity that range from her inclusion in a German portrait gallery of learned men and women, to the scathing portrait in Francoise de Graffigny's correspondence, and nineteenth-century accounts coloured by conflicted views of the ancien regime. Other essays offer close readings of her work, and set her activities and writings in their intellectual and social contexts. Finally, they speculate on the ways in which she presented herself and what that might tell us about the challenges and possibilities facing an exceptional woman of rank and privilege in eighteenth-century society.

IN 1501, ENGLAND HAD BEEN RAVAGED FOR DECADES by conspiracy, coups, and violence. Through luck, guile, and ruthlessness, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor kings, emerged as ruler--but as a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's throne, he remained a usurper and false king to many, and his hold on power was precarious.
But Henry had a crucial asset: his queen and their children, the living embodiment of his hoped-for dynasty. His marriage to Queen Elizabeth united the houses of Lancaster and York, the warring parties that had fought the bloody century-long Wars of the Roses. Now their older son, Arthur, was about to marry a Spanish princess. On a cold November day sixteen-year-old Catherine of Aragon arrived in London for a wedding that would mark a triumphal moment in Henry's reign. But Henry's plans for his son would not happen--and waiting in the wings was the impetuous younger brother, the future Henry VIII.
Rich with drama and insight, "Winter King "is an astonishing story of pageantry, treachery, intrigue, and incident--and the fraught, dangerous birth of Tudor England.

Updated with significant new material, the paperback edition of the 2019 political bestseller. Theresa May presided over the most dramatic and historic peacetime premiership for a century. May at 10 tells the compelling inside story of the most turbulent period in modern British politics for 100 years. Written by one of Britain's leading political and social commentators, May at 10 describes how Theresa May arrived in 10 Downing Street in 2016 with the clearest, yet toughest, agenda of any Prime Minister since the Second World War: delivering Brexit. What follows defies belief or historical precedent. This story has never been told. Including a comprehensive series of interviews with May's closest aides and allies, and with unparalleled access to the advisors who shaped her premiership, Downing Street's official historian Anthony Seldon decodes the enigma of the Prime Minister's tenure. Drawing on all his authorial experience, he unpacks what is the

Ken Thompson served as Sarasota's city manager from 1950 to 1988, making him the longest-serving manager in United States history. During these years, Sarasota experienced a population explosion and an unprecedented modernization of city services. The city moved from a sleepy little town to an independent city with an identifiable economy. This period of growth gave residents a vastly improved bayfront that included Island Park and the Marina Jack development and saw the creation of the current city hall and the Van Wetzel Theater. In thirty-eight years, Sarasota moved from the Circus City to the multifaceted city it is today. Follow well-known Sarasota historian Jeff LaHurd as he recounts the sometimes controversial era of Sarasota's greatest growth.

The first book ever written about FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover by a member of his personal staff-his former assistant, Paul Letersky-offers unprecedented, "clear-eyed and compelling" (Mark Olshaker, coauthor of Mindhunter) insight into an American legend. The 1960s and 1970s were arguably among America's most turbulent post-Civil War decades. While the Vietnam War continued seemingly without end, protests and riots ravaged most cities, the Kennedys and MLK were assassinated, and corruption found its way to the highest levels of politics, culminating in Watergate. In 1965, at the beginning of the chaos, twenty-two-year-old Paul Letersky was assigned to assist the legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who'd just turned seventy and had, by then, led the Bureau for an incredible forty-one years. Hoover was a rare and complex man who walked confidently among the most powerful. His personal privacy was more tightly guarded than the secret "files" he carefully collected-and that were so feared by politicians and celebrities. Through Letersky's close working relationship with Hoover, and the trust and confidence he gained from Hoover's most loyal senior assistant, Helen Gandy, Paul became one of the few able to enter the Director's secretive-and sometimes perilous-world. Since Hoover's death half a century ago, millions of words have been written about the man and hundreds of hours of TV dramas and A-list Hollywood films produced. But until now, there has been virtually no account from someone who, for a period of years, spent hours with the Director on a daily basis. Balanced, honest, and keenly observed, this "vivid, foibles-and-all portrait of the fabled scourge of gangsters, Klansmen, and communists" (The Wall Street Journal) sheds new light on one of the most powerful law enforcement figures in American history.

More than three decades after her election to Parliament, Diane Abbott is still racking up firsts. The first black woman elected to Parliament, she also recently became the first black person to represent their party at PMQs. Abbott came to fame in the 1980s as part of a new generation of Labour activists, quickly dubbed the 'loony left' by right-wing tabloids. Decades later she is still a divisive figure. Inside the Brexit echo chamber she is treated with unparalleled contempt. Yet for her supporters she is a trailblazer, someone who has remained true to her principles and her community after thirty years in 'the belly of the beast'. Based on interviews with her colleagues, her political opponents and friends from school and university, as well as extensive archival research, Diane Abbott: The Authorised Biography traces Abbott's path from London, via Cambridge University, through the media and radical politics into Parliament, and then to the top of Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Cabinet.

The authoritative Beethoven biography, endorsed by and produced in close collaboration with the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, is timed for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. With unprecedented access to the archives at the Beethoven House in Bonn, renowned Beethoven conductor and scholar Jan Caeyers expertly weaves together a deeply human and complex image of Beethoven-his troubled youth, his unpredictable mood swings, his desires, relationships, and conflicts with family and friends, the mysteries surrounding his affair with the "immortal beloved," and the dramatic tale of his deafness. Caeyers also offers new insights into Beethoven's music and its gradual transformation from the work of a skilled craftsman into that of a consummate artist. Demonstrating an impressive command of the vast scholarship on this iconic composer, Caeyers brings Beethoven's world alive with elegant prose, memorable musical descriptions, and vivid depictions of Bonn and Vienna-the cities where Beethoven produced and performed his works. Caeyers explores how Beethoven's career was impacted by the historical and philosophical shifts taking place in the music world, and conversely, how his own trajectory changed the course of the music industry. Equal parts absorbing cultural history and lively biography, Beethoven, A Life paints a complex portrait of the musical genius who redefined the musical style of his day and went on to become one of the great pillars of Western art music.

In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was transplanted from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea. She was sent by her father Francisco, the first president of post-Independence Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung. Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises. After university, she went in search of her roots, passing through Beijing, Seoul, Madrid, Guinea, New York and finally London - forced at every step to reckon with damning perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica's astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes.

For the first time in paperback, the highly acclaimed, remarkably intimate, and surprisingly revealing secret diary of the woman who spent more private time with FDR than any other person during his years in the White house. At once a love story and a major contribution to history, it offers dramatic new insights into FDR--both the man and the president.
- Bestselling author: Geoffrey C. Ward is an award-winning biographer of FDR and the bestselling coauthor of many books with Ken Burns, including The Civil War and Baseball.
- Widely acclaimed: "A fascinating, very personal view of the man and his life" (USA TODAY). "A remarkable portrait" (The Washington Post). "A new mirror on Roosevelt" (The New York Times). "engrossing" (The New York Review of Books).
- Intimate portrait of a president: FDR trusted Margaret "Daisy" Suckley completely--she was allowed to photograph him in his wheelchair, was privy to wartime secrets, and documented his failing health in great detail.
- Major contribution to history: Daisy's diary offers unique insights into FDR's relationship with Winston Churchill and other wartime leaders, his decision to run for an unprecedented fourth term, and his hopes for the postwar world.

A new, updated, revised edition of JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY, the wider history of the Middle East through the lens of the Holy City, covering from pre-history to 2020, from King David to Donald Trump. The story of Jerusalem is the story of the world. Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today's clash of civilisations. How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the 'centre of the world' and now the key to peace in the Middle East? Drawing on new archives and a lifetime's study, Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem. A classic of modern literature, this is not only the epic story of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and co-existence, but also a freshly-updated history of the entire Middle East, from King David to the twenty-first century, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict and the wars of today. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem - the only city that exists twice - in heaven and on earth.

A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2021 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY 'The Red Prince announces Helen Carr as one of the most exciting new voices in narrative history.' Dan Jones Son of Edward III, brother to the Black Prince, father to Henry IV and the sire of all the Tudors. Always close to the English throne, John of Gaunt left a complex legacy. Too rich, too powerful, too haughty... did he have his eye on his nephew's throne? Why was he such a focus of hate in the Peasants' Revolt? In examining the life of a pivotal medieval figure, Helen Carr paints a revealing portrait of a man who held the levers of power on the English and European stage, passionately upheld chivalric values, pressed for the Bible to be translated into English, patronised the arts, ran huge risks to pursue the woman he loved... and, according to Shakespeare, gave the most beautiful of all speeches on England.

Imbokodo: Women Who Shape Us is a groundbreaking series of books which introduces you to the powerful stories of South African women who have all made their mark and cleared a path for women and girls. These books recognise, acknowledge and honour our heroines and elders from the past and the present. South African women are silent no more on the roles that we have played in advancing our lives as artists, storytellers, writers, politicians and educationists. The title 'Imbokodo' was been chosen as it is a Zulu word that means "rock" and is often used in the saying 'Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodo!', which means "You Strike a Women, You Strike a Rock!" These books were made possible with the support of Biblionef and funding from the National Arts Council. In 10 Curious Inventors, Healers & Creators you will read about the women who shape our world through education, science and maths. You will read about women who became teachers, nurses, social workers, scientists and community workers, overcame obstacles and through their work fought for social change.

THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK The thrilling story about a Cold War KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians and the ultimate gift for anyone who loves a real-life spy thriller! 'The best true spy story I have ever read' John le Carre ________________ On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket. The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying. Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever . . . ________________ 'The world's most important spy since the Second World War. Mercilessly gripping' Sunday Times 'Extraordinary. His best book yet' John Preston, Evening Standard 'A remarkable story of one man's courage' The Times, Book of the Week BEN MACINTYRE'S NEXT BOOK COLDITZ: PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!

In 2002, Colombian senator, anticorruption crusader, and presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was kidnapped by leftist guerrillas. She was their prisoner for more than six years. Until now.

"Until Death Do Us Part" is the deeply personal autobiography of an extraordinary woman who gave up a life of comfort and safety to become a political leader in a country slowly being demolished by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. A memoir that reads like a fast-paced political thriller--at once poignant, chilling, and inspiring--it is a story of a reformer, a mother, a patriot whose love for her country and faith in democracy gave her the courage to stand up to the power that has subjugated, intimidated, or corrupted all those who opposed it . . . and ultimately paid an unimaginable price for her commitment.

Just over one hundred years ago, a young lawyer arrived in South Africa from India to do some legal work. He planned to complete his work and return to his family and friends in India. But Mohandas Gandhi soon saw and experienced for himself injustices in the country. He decided to stay and fight the government's cruel race laws. Later, he returned to India and played and important role in its struggle for independence. Today, Gandhi's "passive resistance" method of protest is known throughout the world - and is used by many who believe in non-violence as one of the ways of fighting for their rights. Gandhi's fight against racial and social injustice in South Africa as told by his granddaughter, Ela Gandhi, began a momentum that inspired many political organisations opposed to this country's racial laws. His legacy will continue to inspire people in their fight against all forms of oppression. They Fought for Freedom tells the life stories of southern African leaders who struggled for freedom and justice. In spite of the important roles they played in the history of southern Africa, most of these leaders have been largely ignored by the history books. The series tells their stories in an entertaining manner, in clear language and aims to restore them to their rightful place in history.

'Effervescent' New Yorker Best Books Of 2022 So Far 'Bursts with colour and incident' FT Best Books of Summer Read this prize-winning historian's "immersive" ( New York Times) account of the famous writers who, in the run-up to World War II, took on dictators and rewrote the rules of modern journalism They were an astonishing group: glamorous, gutsy, and irreverent to the bone. As cub reporters in the 1920s, they roamed across a war-ravaged world, sometimes perched atop mules on wooden saddles, sometimes gliding through countries in the splendour of a first-class sleeper car. While empires collapsed and fledgling democracies faltered, they chased deposed empresses, international financiers and Balkan gunrunners, then knocked back doubles late into the night. Last Call at the Hotel Imperial is the extraordinary story of John Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker, Vincent Sheean, and Dorothy Thompson: a close-knit band of wildly famous American reporters who, in the run-up to World War II, took on dictators and rewrote the rules of modern journalism. In those tumultuous years, they landed exclusive interviews with Hitler, Franco and Mussolini who sought to persuade them of fascism's inevitable triumph. Nehru and Gandhi also courted them, seeking American allies against British imperialism. Churchill saw them as his best shot at convincing a reluctant America to join the war against Hitler. They committed themselves to the cause of freedom: fiercely and with all its hazards. They argued about love, war, sex, death and everything in between, and they wrote it all down. The fault lines that ran through a crumbling world, they would find, ran through their own marriages and friendships, too. Told with the immediacy of a conversation overheard, this revelatory book captures how the global upheavals of the twentieth century felt to live through up close.

An "intriguing and accessible" (Publishers Weekly) interpretation of the life of Galileo Galilei, one of history's greatest and most fascinating scientists, that sheds new light on his discoveries and how he was challenged by science deniers. "We really need this story now, because we're living through the next chapter of science denial" (Bill McKibben). Galileo's story may be more relevant today than ever before. At present, we face enormous crises-such as minimizing the dangers of climate change-because the science behind these threats is erroneously questioned or ignored. Galileo encountered this problem 400 years ago. His discoveries, based on careful observations and ingenious experiments, contradicted conventional wisdom and the teachings of the church at the time. Consequently, in a blatant assault on freedom of thought, his books were forbidden by church authorities. Astrophysicist and bestselling author Mario Livio draws on his own scientific expertise and uses his "gifts as a great storyteller" (The Washington Post) to provide a "refreshing perspective" (Booklist) into how Galileo reached his bold new conclusions about the cosmos and the laws of nature. A freethinker who followed the evidence wherever it led him, Galileo was one of the most significant figures behind the scientific revolution. He believed that every educated person should know science as well as literature, and insisted on reaching the widest audience possible, publishing his books in Italian rather than Latin. Galileo was put on trial with his life in the balance for refusing to renounce his scientific convictions. He remains a hero and inspiration to scientists and all of those who respect science-which, as Livio reminds us in this "admirably clear and concise" (The Times, London) book, remains threatened everyday.

'A riveting, unvarnished and wholly unforgettable portrait of America's most storied commandos at war.' - Joby Warrick, author of Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction A stirringly evocative, thought-provoking, and often jaw-dropping account of SEAL Team Operator Robert O'Neill's awe-inspiring 400-mission career. O'Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs' most elite unit. The Operatordescribes the nonstop action of O'Neill's deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, evoking the black humor of years-long combat, and reveals firsthand details of the most discussed anti-terrorist operation in military history.

The Austrian Theory of Value and Capital provides a meticulous account of Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk's life, his theory of value, capital and interest within the context of 19th century German economic thought and the development of neoclassical economic theory.This book provides an insight into Bohm-Bawerk's intellectual development, his political leanings and personal background, including a wealth of previously unknown facts. The study also considers the development of economic thought in the 19th century in Germany and Austria. It critically analyses the work and contribution of Bohm-Bawerk and concludes that his analysis belongs to traditional 19th century German economic thought. Closely related to this is the clarification made by the author of what is genuinely 'Austrian' in the 'Austrian theory of value and distribution'. To complement the study of Bohm-Bawerk, the book also contains the first English translation of his letters to Knut Wicksell. This book will be of interest to economic theorists, those interested in Austrian economics and the history of economic thought and economic historians.

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2022 A Financial Times Politics Book of the Year 2021 A fascinating account of Russia's famous dissident and the politics he embodies. Who is Alexei Navalny? Poisoned in August 2020 and transported to Germany for treatment, the politician returned to Russia in January 2021 in the full glare of the world media. His immediate detention at passport control set the stage for an explosive showdown with Vladimir Putin. But Navalny means very different things to different people. To some, he is a democratic hero. To others, he is betraying the Motherland. To others still, he is a dangerous nationalist. This book explores the many dimensions of Navalny's political life, from his pioneering anti-corruption investigations to his ideas and leadership of a political movement. It also looks at how his activities and the Kremlin's strategies have shaped one another. Navalny makes sense of this divisive character, revealing the contradictions of a man who is the second most important political figure in Russia-even when behind bars. In order to understand modern Russia, you need to understand Alexei Navalny. This updated version includes new material following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Marion is proverbially the great master of strategy?the wily fox of the swamps?never to be caught, never to be followed, ?yet always at hand, with unconjectured promptness, at the moment when he is least feared and is least to be expected. South Carolina's ?Swamp Fox, ? Francis Marion, is one of the most celebrated figures of the American Revolution. Marion's cunning exploits in the Southern theater of the Revolution earned him national renown and a place in history as an American hero and master of modern guerilla warfare. Although dozens of works have been written about Marion's life over the years, this biography -- written by William Gilmore Simms, South Carolina's greatest author -- remains the best. First published in 1844, The Life of Francis Marion was Simms's most commercially successful work of nonfiction. It offers a treatment of Marion's life that is unparalleled in its scope and accuracy, all in Simms's inimitable style.

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Prisoner of the State "is the story of Premier Zhao Ziyang, the man who brought liberal change to China and who was dethroned at the height of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 for trying to stop the massacre. Zhao spent the last years of his life under house arrest. An occasional detail about his life would slip out, but scholars and citizens lamented that Zhao never had his final say.
But Zhao did produce a memoir, secretly recording on audio tapes the real story of what happened during modern China's most critical moments. He provides intimate details about the Tiananmen crackdown, describes the ploys and double crosses used by China's leaders, and exhorts China to adopt democracy in order to achieve long-term stability. His riveting, behind-the-scenes recollections form the basis of "Prisoner of the State."
The China that Zhao portrays is not some long-lost dynasty. It is today's China, where its leaders accept economic freedom but resist political change. Zhao might have steered China's political system toward openness and tolerance had he survived. Although Zhao now speaks from the grave, his voice still has the moral power to make China sit up and listen.

This is the first attempt, since the work of A.P.I. Samuels in 1923, at examining the early career of Edmund Burke without assuming that he was born to become the arch-conservative who condemned the French Revolution. Instead of being in revolt against the Enlightenment, the young Burke was a man intent on illustrating himself and his age by promoting rational knowledge and widening the field of reason. His turn to politics is, therefore, seen as turning away from truth; the compromise changed the direction of his thinking. An escapist solution to some of Burke's problems could not make him forget Ireland, his native country. The fact that Ireland is the first country to have been colonized by England makes it an interesting laboratory of colonial misrule. The study of how it fashioned such a man torn between Ireland and England raises and sheds light on problems that go very much beyond the fate of Burke as an individual. It is a demonstration of the different means used by colonial powers to maintain their conquered empire and contain dissidence and rebellion. Making people believe, for instance, that the order of things is as it should be because that is what it is, does not tax the imagination, but it works and is still being used the world over. In this opinion campaign, Protestant England enjoyed the unfailing support of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland and a 'realistic' understanding on the part of Catholic Europe. It is an example of the private and public tragedies caused by the divided loyalties that colonialism generated. The painfully experienced situation of a 'cultural mulatto' is the inevitable result of a state of domination. If it seems complex, it is because it is not purely negative: the dominated may in turn dominate the dominator. The effects are still with us of the passionate oscillations and reversals of opinion that Burke called his 'principles'. Finally it illustrates the fundamental error of those who, even for a moment, lose sight of the truth perceived by Victor Hugo that 'the first phase of the possible is to be impossible'. As a cultural mulatto, Burke led an impossible life, but who can fail to see that what was then an 'impossibility' is, in the present situation of Ireland and of the world, not only possible but eminently desirable? If only because this is just the beginning.

A beautifully illustrated sailing classic. This rare memoir opens onto the early adventures of a 12-year-old boy sent to sea after the tragic deaths of his sister and father and the impending poverty of his mother. Not for these alone did the book draw great reviews from The Times and The Spectator, when first published in the 1920s. Recently, intrigued by this touching life story, his grandson researched press clippings and documents that compelled him to update and publish the book again, to reveal the full story that must have influenced and spurred on his hero. Weathering fierce storms and worse, in his first 8 years as an apprentice mariner the boy grew into a fine young man, learning from and appreciating the multicultured seamen about him as they ploughed through the Asian trading routes, often fighting off formidable pirates on the South China seas. On his first return home, now aged 20, Boughton arrived in time to save his mother from bailiffs and life in a poorhouse. (He supported her to the end of her days.) Exemplifying that steadfastness, he became a captain and then rose to become the Superintendent of the Shipping Federation of Britain as well as Member of the Marine Board for London. Notably, the book reproduces the original illustrations by Shoesmith, the still much admired artist of his day. The publication also includes old sea shanties, knots and amazing facts regarding world religions and more.

The Marquis de Condorcet (1743-94) was a founding father of social science. He believed that what he called the moral sciences could be studied by the same exacting methods as the natural sciences, and he developed many of the tools for doing so. Condorcet has had two quite unconnected reputations: as the doomed and foolish Enlightenment scholar, writing about the perfectibility of mankind while in hiding from the Terror that would shortly claim his own life; and as the incomprehensible founder of social choice, whose Essai of 1785 was not understood until the 1950s. This book shows that he was not so foolish, nor so incomprehensible, as even sympathetic treatments have made him sound. A long introduction uses the latest French and English sources to put his work into context, explains the unity of his thought and explicates his difficult arguments in probability theory and social choice. The extracts from Condorcet's work that follow are in two parts. Part I, 'The Theory of Voting', includes some extracts from the notorious Essai of 1785 but also later work which is more accessible and makes new points. Part II, 'Human Rights', shows Condorcet the passionate campaigner for rights for slaves and for women, and the American constitutionalist. His poignant 'Advice to his daughter' and 'Testament' show the spirit of a man who knew he was almost certain to be killed, and would never see his daughter again. Most of the works translated here have never appeared in English before. They will be an essential reference source for everybody working in social choice, the history of mathematics and human rights, and the Enlightenment.